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Bush Paints Democrats As Defeatist on Iraq
Las Vegas Sun ^ | February 01, 2006 at 0:40:59 PST | JENNIFER LOVEN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 02/01/2006 12:45:32 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

WASHINGTON (AP) -

0201dvs-state-union President Bush, opening the fall campaign season, is painting Democrats as defeatist for criticizing his march to war in Iraq and protectionist for questioning new trade deals and tax-cut extensions.

Grumbling Democrats looking for advantage in Bush's weak poll numbers and burgeoning scandals in GOP congressional ranks refused to cede center stage as the president laid out his 2006 priorities Tuesday night in his fifth State of the Union address.

Encumbered by some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, Bush hoped to take charge of the agenda at the start of a year that will see races for most of Congress and 36 governorships.

Bush has been beset by criticism that his optimistic messages of recent years haven't squared with the worries many Americans feel over high energy and health care costs, the costly and deadly Iraq war and continuing terrorist threats. He acknowledged the anxieties of "a period of consequence," while still expressing confidence in the future.

"Sometimes it can seem that history is turning a wide arc, toward an unknown shore," he told a joint session of Congress and a national prime-time television audience. "We will finish well."

As has become traditional, Bush was hoping to capitalize on the attention surrounding the year's biggest speech by delivering a recap Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

In Tuesday's speech, the president, hampered by big budget deficits, offered a modest program. He declared that America must break its long dependence on Mideast oil and rebuked critics of his stay-the-course strategy for the unpopular war in Iraq.

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," Bush said.

Rejecting calls for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, he said, "There is no peace in retreat." He also slapped at those who complain he took the country to war on the erroneous grounds that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"Hindsight alone is not wisdom," Bush said. "And second-guessing is not a strategy."

Bush declared "the state of our union is strong and together we will make it stronger." But Democrats said Bush was living in a fantasyland.

"It just wasn't credible to hear him talk about making America more secure and honoring our troops or making America energy independent or making health care more affordable without hearing him explain why he's done just the opposite for the last five years," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Our country is ready for change and a new direction," Democratic Party head Howard Dean said.

Figures on the sidelines gave a look at the nation's sharp divide over Iraq. Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier whose summertime vigil near Bush's Texas ranch reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was arrested and escorted from the visitors section of the House gallery after causing a disruption just before the president spoke.

First lady Laura Bush, meanwhile, had among the guests in her box the relatives of a Marine killed in Iraq.

The partisan mood in the packed House chamber was evident as Bush turned, over halfway through his remarks, to Social Security, the subject of his signature initiative from last year's address that was indefinitely cast aside after even Republicans balked.

Democrats stood in unison to cheer the president's acknowledgment of congressional inaction on his proposal to add private investment accounts to the government retirement program - an idea nearly universally opposed by Democrats.

Republicans then took their turn, delighting with loud applause in Bush's finger-wagging rejoinder that "the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away."

Bipartisanship erupted briefly as the president went on to make his modest call for the creation of a commission, made up of members from both parties, to examine the impact of the retirement of the baby boomer generation on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

He invited Democrats as well as Republicans to provide "good advice" on the mission in Iraq and praised "honorable people in both parties" who are proposing to strengthen ethical standards amid the influence-peddling scandal surrounding disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

But even as the president steered away from directly targeting Democrats, he left no doubt he was drawing clear distinctions with the other party, and will continue to do so as the campaign progresses.

He warned against the danger to the nation's future economic vitality of choosing to "shut ourselves off from trade and opportunity," a reference to overwhelming Democratic opposition last year to the new Central American Free Trade Agreement.

He termed it irresponsible to allow "a massive tax increase" if previously passed cuts, set to expire, are not permanently extended.

Many of the solutions Bush offered were repackaged versions of ideas he has sounded from the beginning of his presidency.

He announced a competitiveness agenda that is the focus of travel later in the week to Minnesota, New Mexico and Texas. The initiative, a total of $136 billion over 10 years, includes training for 100,000 math and science school instructors and greater public spending on basic science research.

Bush proposed greater tax benefits for health saving accounts, in which people who purchase high-deductible coverage can contribute money tax-free to 401(k)-like savings plans.

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On the Net:

White House: http://whitehouse.gov

Democratic Party: http://www.democrats.org

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TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: sotu
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To: Echo Talon

or
If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, acts like a duck, it's a duck.


21 posted on 02/01/2006 3:01:28 AM PST by MagnoliaB
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To: Howlin


OMG! She is absolutely horrid. What a disgraceful, dangerous and unhinged pig. She should be kept far away from civilization.


22 posted on 02/01/2006 3:17:50 AM PST by onyx
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

They're worse than defeatists... they're unAmerican and some are actually trying to render us a defeat.


23 posted on 02/01/2006 3:23:19 AM PST by onyx
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"Our country is ready for change and a new direction," Democratic Party head Howard Dean said.
And if you could stop spinning for a moment, Howie Baby... what direction would that be?
24 posted on 02/01/2006 3:29:03 AM PST by samtheman
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To: samtheman

"Hindsight alone is not wisdom, and second guessing is not a strategy."


25 posted on 02/01/2006 3:48:37 AM PST by jshermn
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To: jshermn

Yeah, I cheered when he said that.


26 posted on 02/01/2006 3:54:10 AM PST by samtheman
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To: jshermn; samtheman

That was the money quote for the first part of the speech. Thanks for posting it, as I needed to have it for someone this morning.


27 posted on 02/01/2006 4:20:14 AM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's son and keep him strong.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Quite frankly, I think Bush painted the Dems as DEFEATIST, PESSIMISTIC, NEGATIVE, and UNHELPFUL on every agenda item.
28 posted on 02/01/2006 5:35:20 AM PST by NearlyNormal (Our military wins wars, only the liberals and their MSM loose them)
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To: NearlyNormal

And I thought the Democrats had painted themselves as DEFEATIST, PESSIMISTIC, NEGATIVE AND UNHELPFUL on EVERY agenda item.


29 posted on 02/01/2006 5:40:23 AM PST by stocksthatgoup (http://www.busateripens.com)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Encumbered by some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency

Please.....when they start polling between 10-15 million people on what they think, then I will start to listen to polls. The 1000 or so people that they sample is a joke. Not worth the time to read the polls.

Keep going, Dubya...don't listen to any of these stupid polls..

30 posted on 02/01/2006 5:45:45 AM PST by Fedupwithit (Forget the clever slogans.....Democrats are just idiots, plain and simple)
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To: stocksthatgoup
True, true ... but since the MSM chooses to ignore that angle, it helps to have the POTUS enlighten the masses in those all-too-rare opportunities during which he has the nation's undivided attention.
31 posted on 02/01/2006 5:53:12 AM PST by NearlyNormal (Our military wins wars, only the liberals and their MSM loose them)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Bush Paints Democrats As Defeatist on Iraq

He doesn't have to do anything like that

The Dems do a fine job all by themselves

32 posted on 02/01/2006 6:07:09 AM PST by Mo1 (Republicans protect Americans from Terrorists.. Democrats protect Terrorists from Americans)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
And after the speech...


33 posted on 02/01/2006 6:14:46 AM PST by johnny7 (“Iuventus stultorum magister”)
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To: Howlin
I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up.

She's lying according to the officials...and according to the photo evidence. Typical liberal. What doesn't make sense is why the liberals think anyone should take them seriously when they are consistently dishonest...and demonstrably so.

34 posted on 02/01/2006 9:17:53 AM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Dems painted THEMSELVES as Defeatists by their OWN ACTIONS last night!! I could not believe the way they acted!!! I think even Joe Schmoe will see them in a different light!!


35 posted on 02/01/2006 10:06:33 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion: The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience. T)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Bush Paints Democrats As Defeatist on Iraq

Because they are! President Bush would throw something out there for them to cheer about, and then turn that enthusiasm around onto them! It was a night of traps and exposure.

36 posted on 02/01/2006 10:26:24 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Proud to be a cotton-pickin' Republican on the GOP Plantation)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
No reporters name attached to this...

Which means the whole report is bogus.

37 posted on 02/01/2006 10:28:58 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Proud to be a cotton-pickin' Republican on the GOP Plantation)
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To: onyx

That is correct and bloggers, the RNC ought to be pushing those points on the NET. The fact is the Dems have not been the loyal oppositon but obstructionists and the Sit down Dems were so obvious in their anti-Americanism on so many issues that the fly over nation could not miss the differences between the leaders or parties.


38 posted on 02/01/2006 10:49:48 AM PST by phillyfanatic
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To: Howlin

Cindy is pathetic. She can't even protest right. She was out of there before the President even entered the chamber.


39 posted on 02/01/2006 10:54:37 AM PST by colorado tanker (I can't comment on things that might come before the Court, but I can tell you my Pinochle strategy)
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